Sold: Angelica R. Jackson's Crow's Rest, to Spencer Hill Press

Yay, I finally get to announce that my book, Crow's Rest, and I are joining the Spencer Hill Press family!

And the release date is May 12, 2015!

(Illustration by Arthur Rackham for the fable, The Crow & The Pitcher)

That image for The Crow and The Pitcher is particularly fitting--this deal has been in the works for a while, but so many things cropped up in the meantime (some in my control, some not--I guess it would have been quicker to type "life happens") that it wasn't until last week that I signed the contract. Took awhile to be able to get a drink of that water! Even so, that May 2015 date seems like it's coming up awfully fast!

One thing that's helping with the timeline is that I did a lot of the "homework" ahead of time. Especially since this was a book that I got very close to starting the self-publishing process on, I had an entire list of things ready to go. Some publishers want more or less of this info, but Spencer Hill Press has a pretty exhaustive Author Information sheet to fill out. I provided links to cover art and artists that I like, elements that I want to include or don't want to see in a cover for Crow's Rest, and some choices for back copy and loglines.

That back cover copy is especially important--all the research I had done said to keep it below 200 words. I managed to do that--and then I learned that it may need to be as short as 500 characters. Yes, that's characters-- as in barely longer than 3 tweets!

So I encourage you all to put thought into this kind of thing before you get that deal (or while you're sitting on the news, waiting for permission to announce). You may not use your draft of the back copy on the final cover, but having several different ways to sum up your book helps with promotional opportunities down the road.

Here's the draft I've been using on my blog, so check back for the cover reveal and see how much it changed (or didn't):

Avery Flynn arrives for a visit at her Uncle Tam's, eager to rekindle her summertime romance with her crush-next-door, Daniel.

But Daniel’s not the sweet, neurotic guy she remembers—and she wonders if this is her Daniel at all.

Or if someone—some thing—has taken his place.

Her quest to find the real Daniel—and get him back—plunges Avery into a world of Fae and changelings.

Where creatures swap bodies like humans change their socks, and magic lives much closer to home than she ever imagined.

So excited to join our other Operatives at Operation Awesome who have also chosen to go with Spencer Hill--do we have a group signing in our future, Kell Andrews and Angela Townsend?